The Gulf Time Newspaper One of the finest business newspapers in the UAE brought to you by our professional writers and editors.
Bloomberg
Hurricane Dorian upended Labor Day travel plans for hundreds of thousands of people in the Southeastern US, as fierce winds and torrential rains forced widespread cancellation of rail service and airline traffic.
According to FlightAware, a flight-tracking website, airlines cancelled 1,152 flights on September 2. The hardest-hit airport was Fort Lauderdale International in Florida, which closed at noon on September 2 and where 543 flights were cancelled, three-quarters of the airport’s total scheduled for the day. Daytona Beach International Airport and both Orlando International Airport and Orlando Melbourne International Airport also closed on September 2.
For Tuesday, airlines have cancelled more than 550 flights already, according to the website. At least three airlines — American Airlines Group Inc, Frontier Airlines Inc, and Southwest Airlines Co — announced that they were waiving cancellation and change fees for flights involving storm-impacted airports in Florida and the Bahamas.
Southwest also waived pet fees for travellers trying to evacuate their dogs and cats from Florida and South Carolina.
Dorian had slowed to a crawl over the Bahamas but was expected to gradually turn to the northwest to begin a run up the US East Coast.
Amtrak cancelled Florida passenger trains, including service between the state and points as far north as New York, through Tuesday as Dorian picked up strength and moved closer to the continental US Kimberly Woods, an Amtrak spokeswoman, said that service between Washington and Boston was continuing unimpeded, but other schedule disruptions were possible as the hurricane
progressed.
The storm also disrupted operations of some cruise ships. Because Dorian forced the closure of ports in Miami and Port Canaveral Florida, Carnival Cruise lines canceled several voyages and announced that others would be shortened.
Most of the storm’s impact was focussed offshore, so there were few major road closings on the continental US.
Governor Ronald DeSantis of Florida announced that to help speed evacuations, the state was suspending the collection of tolls on more than a dozen roads, including the Turnpike Mainline that runs from Miami to central Florida.